“Heiress of the Wind”: a Night at the Movies
Presented by The Women of Holy Blossom
March 29, 7:30 pm
Watch the film and then join Dr. Gillian Helfield who will lead a discussion with Gloria Carrión, filmmaker of “Heiress of the Wind.” Also speaking will be Jacqueline Friedland, leader of Holy Blossom Temple’s refugee resettlement activities, Ivette Fonseca, Gloria’s mother and co-protagonist of the film, Alvaro Serje, editor of the film, and Dr. Dolores Figueroa, co-author of the dossier on the 40th Anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution and the political crisis that began in 2018 for the Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. The film will be available for prior viewing virtually to those who register by Friday, March 25. the week before the event. For those who register on or after Friday, March 25, the link to the movie will be sent out with their link to the Zoom program. There is no cost to access the film or participate in the Zoom discussion.
Register here today!
Click here to view the trailer for “Heiress of the Wind”
Synopsis: In 1979 Nicaragua, a dictatorship that lasted decades has been overthrown and the revolutionary Sandinistas have taken over. As far as young Gloria is concerned, they are superheroes—particularly as her parents are on the front line of the coup and subsequent civil war. But the revolution takes its toll—her parents’ dedication to the cause means they have little time for their children. Years later, their adult daughter turns to the camera as she touches on painful subjects relating to her parents. This results in candid, searing discussions about torture, tragic deaths, doubt, disillusionment and parenting, which always took second place to the greater good. In a way, Heiress of the Wind is a highly personal film, with Gloria narrating her own memories in voice-over. Extensive use of archive footage also presents us with a clear historical impression of a changing Nicaragua.
About the filmmaker, Gloria Carrión: Gloria is a documentary filmmaker and social science researcher. In 2017, her first feature-length documentary Heiress of the Wind had its world premiere at IDFA. Since then, it has been shown in more than 80 film festivals around the world, winning several prizes including Best Documentary in Central America, Best Documentary Audience Award in Guatemala, Cuba, and Austria. The film was supported by Tribeca Latin American Film Fund, IDFA’s Bertha Fund, IMCINE, and others. In 2019, she co-directed the fiction film Dias de Luz with other 5 Central American Directors. In 2020, the film was among the 95 features preselected for Best International Film at the Oscars. She’s currently finishing K.’s leaves, a short animated documentary film, which dwells on the 2018 civil uprising in Nicaragua and developing her next documentary feature and video installations projects. She has a Film Diploma from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University; a masters in Documentary Filmmaking from Universidad del Cine en Buenos Aires, Argentina; and a masters in Environment and International Development from the London School of Economics in the U.K.
